Adblock Plus Extension Developer Raises Funding From Mystery Partner

9 years

Adblock Plus, the wildly popular Firefox browser add-on that, well, blocks ads, is not going to get the plug pulled out of any time soon, and might eventually turn into a self-sustaining venture, even.

That’s the gist of this blog post by ABP developer Wladimir Palant (hat tip to @CleverClogs), who has apparently raised enough capital – courtesy of an unnamed Samaritan – to quit his day job at Songbird and work on the project full-time for the next two years.

Granted, it doesn’t take all that much capital to sustain a single developer full-time for that period ($90k – $110k?), but it’s the mystery surrounding the partner in question that intrigues me, personally.

Writes Palant:

At least as far as my availability is concerned — I think I found a solution. A while ago I started talking to somebody who shares my passion for the web and agrees that the current advertising model needs fixing (no names for now, he first wants to see how things work out).

Any guesses as far as his identity goes?

Later in the blog post, Palant says he’s still very much in charge of the project, but that he now has the opportunity to solicit help from people who have “better business sense” than him. Interestingly, he references the fact that he’s apparently been receiving business offers that he’s had to ignore so far, which will now be evaluated more seriously.

Palant does say some commercial offers will remain off-limits, such as bundling unrelated extensions with Adblock Plus or replacing ads with other ads – which would be super ironic – and that any means of monetization will not come at the expense of ABP’s many users.

Finally, Palant says the funding will be used to help Adblock Plus grow its already significant market share and “influence the web in a positive way”.